British Safety Council’s International Safety Awards 2026 are now open for applications.
The International Safety Awards are a world-renowned accolade recognising organisations’ commitment to excellent standards of health, safety and wellbeing management. This is the 68th year the awards have taken place.
Launching the 2026 International Safety Awards, Chief Executive of British Safety Council, Mike Robinson said: “British Safety Council’s International Safety Awards have long been seen by leaders and practitioners as a pinnacle of achievement and recognition in protecting and ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of workers.
“It is our vision at British Safety Council that no-one should be injured or made ill through their work – anywhere in the world. I would encourage all organisations and leaders around the world who are proud of their track record to put themselves forward for an award.”
789 organisations won an International Safety Award in 2025, spanning all sectors with significant representation from the construction, manufacturing, oil, gas, mining, power and utility sectors. Winners were drawn from 45 countries worldwide.
A full list of 2025 winners can be found here.
Businesses applying can be recognised as ‘best in class’ across four categories:
- Sector Awards recognise overall ‘best in class’ submissions to the International Safety Awards, by industry sector category
- Best in Country Awards recognise the highest scoring and best overall application from individual countries (where there are sufficient applications from the given country)
- Best in Company Award for organisations with 50 or more participating sites and recognises the site(s) with the most outstanding applications
- Chief Adjudicator’s Award recognises the most outstanding applications from this year’s entrants. Previous winners have been exemplars in their respective areas and evidenced this through their application responses.
Eleven of the awards are completely free-to-enter whether or not applicants have applied for an International Safety Award. These are:
- Environmental Award: recognises an organisation that has used climate change risk assessment and vulnerability modelling to identify and plan for future adaptation strategies to a changing climate.
- Rising Female Star Award in collaboration with SOWSHE-A: recognises women that are breaking through and shaping future leadership in the health, safety, wellbeing or the environmental management world.
- David Parr medal: recognises a public venue that developed a stand-out 2025 initiative with a significant impact on health, safety or wellbeing at the venue. It is named after British Safety Council’s late Technical Director, David Parr, who first became involved in the industry due to his own personal experiences at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
- Lifetime Achievement award: voted for by the Trustees of British Safety Council, is for people who have made an outstanding contribution to workplace health, safety and wellbeing throughout their career.
- Seize the Opportunity Award: recognises organisations that have gone the extra mile to seize health, safety or wellbeing opportunities resulting from a crisis.
- CEO Award: recognises the leadership and strategic vision of CEOs who have made a vital contribution to the health, safety and wellbeing of their business and wider society during 2025.
- Health and Safety Transformation Award – sponsored by Croner-i: for organisations that have significantly changed or transformed any aspect of health, safety or wellbeing to a significant extent through the use of information.
- Health, Safety and Wellbeing Ambassador of the Year Award: recognises an employee who, in the opinion of the organisation or person nominating them, has played a significant role in ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of colleagues and others.
- Team of the Year Award: recognises outstanding achievements resulting in a significant improvement to health, safety or wellbeing, from a collaboration of stakeholders, which may include members of the organisation, suppliers, subcontractors and/or the wider community.
- The James Tye Award: recognises an organisation or a team of individuals who have developed and run a campaign in 2025 which has made a significant impact on health, safety or wellbeing in the workplace. It is named after British Safety Council’s campaigning founder, James Tye.
- Wellbeing Initiative Award: recognises and rewards organisations demonstrating a proactive and effective approach to improving employee wellbeing.
The closing date for applications is 2 February 2026 and the results will be announced on 17 March 2026.
To apply go to: International Safety Awards 2026.